


Astrological

by Broken_Clover



Category: Guilty Gear
Genre: Autism, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Friendship, Gen, POV First Person, Stimming, request fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:27:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23704591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Broken_Clover/pseuds/Broken_Clover
Summary: There are exactly fifty-three and one-third wooden floor tiles between his room and the castle’s main library.
Kudos: 6





	Astrological

There are exactly fifty-three and one-third wooden floor tiles between his room and the castle’s main library. He knows because he counts them every time he goes to the library, which is almost every day. Mr. Kiske lets him use the library as he pleases, as long as he puts everything back where he found it.

In his opinion, the library is the best place to be. It isn’t filled with constant background noise, and he can actually focus on what he’s trying to do. Nobody’s staring at him, either, so it feels less weird to thumb over the carved edges of the couch in the corner, back and forth and back and forth and tracing the rounded indents in the wood. He’s not sure why he does it. He just does. It feels nice to press against.

Sometimes he gets so engrossed in a new book that he forgets what’s going on around him. It’s why Sin’s sudden appearance startles him so much that he nearly throws the book at his face. 

Sin doesn’t seem too off-put by his reaction. “Hi!”

“What are you doing here?” He asks in reply, internally cringing moments later. He knows he needs to work on being more cautious with his words to avoid hurting anyone’s feelings on accident.

“El’s finally up!” Says Sin, looking not especially offended. “So we’re gonna make lunch and figure out what we’re gonna do today!”

That made sense. They seem to enjoy going on escapades together. He wasn’t much of an outdoors person, but it was fun being with his friends. They always invited him along, and it never failed to make him feel nice at the idea of being included.

“Alright, I will accompany you.”

He hasn’t memorized how many steps there are between the library and the small dining room they like to use. Maybe he should count. There’s a wall sconce between every other door, all the way down the hallway. The carpet feels nice on his bare feet. If they’re going out, that means he needs to put shoes on. Sin’s longcoat is flapping against his leg. He takes a little step away so it can’t touch him.

“So what was that book you were reading?” Sin interrupts his thoughts for a second time. “It looked really big! I wouldn’t be able to focus for that long.”

He likes when Sin asks questions. It feels like he’s interested in what he’s doing. It’s fun to talk and talk about the things he’s interested in, but it always feels like he’s boring people.

“I’m trying to understand the difference between polysemy and homonymy.”

Sin looks confused, but he doesn’t say anything. Does that mean he wants an explanation? “They both refer to words that have multiple meanings. But they’re different concepts. Polysemes have meanings that are related, but homonyms are unrelated. Some people argue about what words are which.”

“Huh. That’s weird.”

“It’s really interesting! So for example, _’head’_ can refer to the top part of your body, or the top part of a bottle, or a person in charge, or a flower, or the beginning of a river. But they all refer to where something begins or something that’s ‘on top,’ which makes it a polyseme.”

“I see.”

“But there’s also some distinctions on their own. Polysemy comes in different forms, there’s regular and irregular, and then irregular breaks off into radial and chain, and those-”

Sin isn’t paying attention anymore. They take a sharp turn at the next intersection of the corridor. “Let’s go stop by Ram’s room and get her, I think she’s still playing with the dog.”

Sin probably didn’t mean to. He still has a kid’s attention span, and most people don’t find linguistics especially exciting. It stings, but he tries not to be hurt by it.

Hers isn’t too far away. Ram has her own room now, they all do. She still doesn’t know what she likes yet, so the space is mostly empty. Her dog is napping soundly on the foot of her bed. Ram is halfway across the room, pushing a closet to the other side.

“Heya, Ram!” Sin raises a hand to wave. He does the same. “What’re you doing?”

“Reorganizing. I want to see if I like it better near the window.”

There’s a panel on the wall that’s a slightly different shade of green, and he can’t stop thinking about it. But Ram probably painted it herself (green is Ram’s favorite, he knows), so saying something about it would be mean.

“We’re making lunch before we go out for the day! Wanna come?”

She pushes the closet again, making it screech against the floor. All the thoughts in his head turn choppy and erratic, and his hands fly to his ears. After a few moments, he opens his eyes again and sees his friends eyeing him sheepishly.

“Sorry.” Ram says as soon as he lowers his hands. 

“It’s fine.” He replies. “We should be going, shouldn’t we? Wouldn’t want to keep Elphelt waiting for us.”

Sin nods. “You’re right. C’mon, let’s go!”

Ram gives her puppy one last skritch to the ears before following after them back down the hall.

“So where are you guys thinking of going today?”

“Danny Missiles.” Ram says immediately. 

“Aww, c’mon! We’re eating before we go! Why would we eat before we eat?”

“I’m not picky. I don’t mind where we go.”

Sin swivels around to look at him. “Bedman, you always say that! There has to be someplace you’d like to go?”

“I really don’t. It’s just nice to make you guys happy.”

“I’m gonna find something you like, just you wait!” The blonde pouts, arms crossed. 

Sin is nice because he’s easy to read. His body language is exaggerated and cartoonish. When he’s happy, he smiles and bounces. When he’s frustrated, he glares and throws his hands in the air. It’s easy enough to follow along with.

Ramlethal is harder to read, and it frustrates him. Her expressions are often small and subdued. But she expresses herself vocally much more often. Maybe it’s because she’s learning how to sort out her emotions, too. Most people don’t casually announce that they’re happy or sad in a conversation, but in his opinion, it’s rather efficient, as opposed to having to guess so much.

Elphelt is probably going to be waiting for them in the kitchen, isn’t she? And Elphelt likes small talk. _‘How are you’_ is easy but dull (the answer is always _‘fine,’_ regardless) but what if she asks something else? Should he try and script something beforehand? _‘Hello, how are you? Hello, how are you? Where are we going today, Elphelt? Hello-’_

Oh, he’s overthinking it again. Thankfully Sin and Ram have longer legs, so they always manage to walk a bit ahead of him. Nobody notices his flapping.

“Hey, El!” Sin announces their presence. “I found ‘em!”

“That was fast!” Elphelt is doing something with the stove. Eggs? Probably eggs. Thankfully not onions, he can’t stand the smell of onions. “What were you guys up to?”

Dammit, he hasn’t scripted for that. That wasn’t in the plan. But is she talking to him in specific? Maybe Ram can answer instead. So instead he goes over to the counter and starts working on a pot of coffee. Someone cleaned his mug and put it away in the cabinet. That was nice of them. It’s the best because it’s purple. Sin got it for him, for that same reason. It’s purple, like him.

“Uh…hello?”

He turns away from the coffee-pot. Elphelt’s looking at him now. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” Perfect recovery. “Do you know the difference between homophony and polysemy?”

“No, I don’t! Can you tell me on the way?”

He grins eagerly at the thought. “On the way to where?”

She shrugs. “Dunno yet! Hoping you guys could help figure it out.”

It’s five minutes until the water’s ready. “Anything you had in mind?”

“I had a few things that I clipped out of yesterday’s paper, maybe one of those would be good?”

Someone left a pile of silverware on the table. It must have just been cleaned and left to dry. Whatever the case, he sits down and immediately gets to work sorting them.

Sin reaches over him, grabbing a pair of butter knives. “We’re gonna make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before we head out, do you want one?”

He shakes his head, not looking up from his task. “I don’t like jelly.”

“Too sweet?” Elphelt asks.

“Sticky. It’s sticky, and I don’t like sticky, especially not in my mouth.”

“I guess I can see what you mean.” Says Sin. “How about just peanut butter, then?”

“Peanut butter is good.”

Elphelt and Ramlethal sit down at the table with him. From her pocket, Elphelt pulls out several snippets of newspaper, which she spreads on the tabletop. “Here’s all the stuff I’ve got! Let’s see…I saw something about a woodworking class over at the hardware store on Redwood-”

“Isn’t Sin still banned from there?” Asks Ram.

“I said I was sorry!” Sin protests, carrying a plate to the table. “How was I supposed to know the thing could catch on fire? They should have warned me when they gave me the power drill!”

“Uhh, well, we probably should try to avoid getting arrested. I can only imagine how angry Mr. Kiske would get. Besides, I’ve got other stuff we can look at!” She picks up another paper piece. “How about a boat ride? There’s supposed to be a lot of birds migrating back!”

“Bedman gets seasick.”

“I forgot about that…”

Sin speaks up. “Uh, I think there’s some new thing that got built a couple weeks ago? Can’t remember the word, though. Plan something. Plan-o-tear-”

“Planetarium?” Ram offers.

He’s immediately distracted. Planetarium. Space. Space. Planets and comets and shiny stars and big dark quiet spaces space space space space space-

“Earth to Mattie!” Sin chuckles. “You okay, man?”

“Space.” He says, without thinking. “Erm. Sorry. Just got distracted.”

“I’ve never been to one of those.” Says Ram. “It sounds interesting.”

Elphelt nods. “I’d be up for that, if you want! I’ve been told they’re totally romantic!”

“Sounds great to me!” Sin smiles in approval. “Well, that’s three. What do you think?”

Space. Space. Oh no. He’s getting too excited. The urge to flap is almost overwhelming, but he reins it into a discrete flutter at his sides. It seems like he didn’t do a good enough job. Sin notices.

“What’s wrong? You’re all…flappy.”

And of course he has to say it out loud, so Elphelt and Ram notice too. Now everyone is staring at him. Bad. He’s going to die of shame.

“I’m sorry.” He says. “I don’t mean to. Sometimes it just happens when I get excited. I’m sorry.”

But, to his surprise, Sin doesn’t immediately berate him. Instead, he smiles. “Don’t gotta be shy, man! Do what you want!”

“Oh. It doesn’t make you uncomfortable? You don’t think it’s weird?”

“Dude.” The other boy says, with the utmost seriousness. “Ram has a sentient balloon. I don’t think you could get much weirder than that. I think we can handle it.”

He’s not used to this, but he feels like he can trust Sin. “Are you quite sure?”

“Of course!”

The coffee-pot pings, ready to be poured.

It’s hard to flap while sipping coffee, but he manages. He’s still flapping when they leave, all the way down to the planetarium. By the time they actually make it there, his arms hurt. But it’s a nice kind of hurt.


End file.
